American Literature / Unit 5 AML 0401 short lesson, about 20 seconds
From Providence to Reason: The Enlightenment Turn
Captions available
The idea
The eighteenth century shifted the question from what God had decreed to what reason could discover. Writers still believed, but they argued from observation, and the anchor notes the period's optimism about human improvement: libraries, athenaeums and study groups founded for people who thought they could get better.
In practice
Improvement by effort, not election.
Where people slip
Reason displaced providence without abolishing God.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- Nothing. This is a starting point.
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